Detroit Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer placed on 10-day disabled list

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Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer waits to be relieved in the third inning on Thursday, July 20, 2017, in Kansas City, Mo.(Photo: John Sleezer, TNS)

How serious remains to be seen. But the Tigers placed him on the 10-day disabled list on Thursday afternoon with right elbow ulnar neuritis.

Fulmer experienced numbness and tingling in the pinky and ring fingers of his right hand during his start against the Yankees on Monday, he said. The symptoms are something that he’s been dealing with for the better part of two seasons but never during a game.

“More precautionary reasons and just to give me time to let the nerve calm down a little bit and try to reduce some numbing and tingling in the last two fingers,” Fulmer said. “Hopefully 10-12 days from now, I’ll be back out there pitching.”

Fulmer said he will be shut down for a week.

“This was just the first time that I actually felt it during the game,” he said. “It kind of affected only one pitch, the changeup, because that’s the only ring finger I use on that pitch. But fastball velocity was good, my slider was still good, I’m not really concerned with it because my stuff was still there, I feel like, it just kind of affected the changeup. Obviously, when you lose feeling in your fingers it’s not the best sign. But hopefully it’s just a little thing where you just take off a week and you let everything calm down and take some anti-inflammatories and be good after 10 days.”

It marks the second time this season in which Fulmer has underwent an MRI: A mid-June test revealed shoulder bursitis.

Asked if surgery was an option, manager Brad Ausmus said, “It could be if you couldn’t get the symptoms to subside, but that’s not on the table right now.”

Fulmer, 24, has a 3.59 ERA and 1.12 WHIP this season. He was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 2016.